UConn women respect South Florida’s Courtney Williams

Connecticut’s Moriah Jefferson (4) drives past South Florida’s Courtney Williams (10) during the first half of their matchup earlier this season.

Connecticut’s Moriah Jefferson (4) drives past South Florida’s Courtney Williams (10) during the first half of their matchup earlier this season.

Photo: File Photo — The Associated Press

Photo: File Photo — The Associated Press

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Connecticut’s Moriah Jefferson (4) drives past South Florida’s Courtney Williams (10) during the first half of their matchup earlier this season.

Connecticut’s Moriah Jefferson (4) drives past South Florida’s Courtney Williams (10) during the first half of their matchup earlier this season.

Photo: File Photo — The Associated Press

UConn women respect South Florida’s Courtney Williams

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STORRS >> Perhaps the biggest issue for the veteran members of the top-ranked UConn women’s basketball team the last time out was simply controlling their emotions after the Senior Day and Huskies of Honor ceremonies.

A completely different challenge awaits with high-scoring guard Courtney Williams leading a talented South Florida team into Gampel Pavilion for the regular-season finale.

Williams heads into Monday’s 7 p.m. game having scored at least 20 points a total of four times against the Huskies, including a 26-point explosion in the first meeting of the season. Over the last 20 seasons only former Notre Dame star Skylar Diggins and Louisville legend Angel McCoughtry have topped that mark with five 20-point outings each. Williams is the sixth player with at least four 20-point performances against UConn’s vaunted defense and the other five happened to be taken in the first round of the WNBA Draft, including former No. 1 overall picks McCoughtry and Chamique Holdsclaw.

“One of her big things is she is just quicker than everybody,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “She just goes wherever she wants to go with the ball and makes it really difficult for you to guard her. She elevates on her shot so she jumps right over Moriah (Jefferson) sometimes, and if you put somebody bigger on her, she is just too quick for them. You are really challenged to find who is able to do the best job on her. Sometimes when we switch and we have Stewie (Breanna Stewart) on her, that works great, or if we switch and we have Gabby Williams out there, that works really well, but she just goes wherever she wants to go with the ball.”

Williams has the ability to score from the perimeter, but is also fast enough to get to the rim. She is as explosive of a leaper as anybody UConn has played in recent memory.

“You have to chalk it up a lot of times that we did everything right and the kid still made the shot,” Auriemma said. “It is like throwing the perfect pitch exactly where you want to throw it, right where the coach said ‘this is where we want the ball’ and the guy hits it out of the park. Sometimes you have to give credit to the other guy.”

Jefferson will likely open the game on Williams as two of the nation’s quickest players get to go head to head once again. Jefferson loves the challenge of guarding the best perimeter player, whether it is South Carolina’s Tiffany Mitchell or a player like Williams.

“She is one of those players you just have to try to contain,” Jefferson said. “She is going to get her shots, a lot of shots in the game. You have to be prepared for her to do that. She has the green light and you never know when she is going to shoot it. You have to always be engaged with her and be ready (for her) to put it up.”

UConn has already clinched the AAC regular-season title for the third season in a row, while USF has locked up the No. 2 seed. Both teams will receive byes into the quarterfinals with UConn opening tournament play on Saturday at 2 p.m. and USF playing at 6 p.m. at Mohegan Sun Arena. A win would also mark the eighth time UConn has finished regular-season play without a loss and 12th time that the Huskies won a regular-season conference title without dropping a game. A victory would also enable the Huskies to become the first women’s Division I program with two conference winning streaks of at least 60 games.